| Yoruba Vests |
All the images that will follow are located at the website Hamill Gallery of Tribal Art located in Boston. (it is a wonderful source of visual information. They have indexed their holdings in three categories: Tribe, Object, Material and very searchable.)
I was particularly attracted to the Yoruba Vests and clothing from Nigeria in general because it reminded me so much of Boro cloth. This following reminded me a lot of Judy Martin's couching and stitching, first two images are a Hausa Male Robe, third image is Judy Martin's dyed indigo cloth with running stitch.
| Judy Martin's version (link) |
There seems to be a revival of the use of traditional arts mostly basic on economy needs because also, I would hope, in the attempt to not lose those traditional cultural practices. In looking at Nigerian, these are the objects I know best, therefore I will address these, one can see and trace, almost on a timeline, the insertion of the West. The earlier culture of the Benin yielded it representation to objects related to the introduction of the influence of the West. A lot of military objects - guns, bullet belts, helmets, knives appear on the sculptures, replacing the earlier representational images. On the one hand I find this fascinating but on the other, sad that the spirit of the art making has somehow disappeared or been transformed. But now for the eye candy. I'm put a select number here but for more - go to the gallery and look, enjoy, and wonder.
The gallery had an exhibit specifically for costume/clothing between 2006-2007:
Hope you enjoyed the treat of the day. Would have been a wonderful "actual" visit.